The focus of the Catlin Seaview Survey’s coral reef project has shifted from the Great Barrier Reef to the Caribbean and Bermuda.

The groundbreaking program, sponsored by international insurer and reinsurer Catlin Group, aims to create a record of the world’s reefs through high-resolution, panoramic images.

It will reveal damage to the vital ecosystems and promote action to protect them.

More than 150km of the Great Barrier Reef has already been surveyed, capturing more than 100,000 images.

The new project starts in Belize and will move on to Mexico, Anguilla, St Vincent, Guadeloupe, Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas and Bermuda.

Coral is considered the “canary in the coalmine” when it comes to assessing the impact of climate change, and there have been huge losses in the Caribbean over the past 50 years.

The region’s economies rely on the reefs. It is estimated coral degradation could cause annual losses of between $US140 million and $US420 million ($155.27 million-$465.83 million) in the next 50 years.

“We are committed to understanding the future risks posed by climate change,” Catlin CEO Stephen Catlin said. “It is not only important that scientists have access to this valuable data but insurance companies such as ours must understand the impact that significant changes to our environment will have on local economies.”

Survey team members believe they face a race against time to record the world’s coral reefs.

Partners on the project are Google Street View, which displays the images, the University of Queensland and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.